After installing the ASP.NET and Web Tools 2015 (RC1 update 1) I get the following error within ASP.NET MVC 4 projects when opening *.cshtml files:
Object reference not set to instance of an object
I get the same error message even if I start a new ASP.NET MVC 4 project and try to open a *.cshtml file there.
I'm using Visual Studio 2015
Maybe this helps:
Delete the contents from the following folders:
C:\Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio
C:\Users\%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VSCommon
Sometimes, you need to go to:
[x64] C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
[x86] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
and run devenv /resetuserdata.
Expect, that all of your user settings such as Visual Studio layout, linked Microsoft account or start page might disappear.
Delete %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\ComponentModelCache and restart Visual Studio.
Alternatively, use the Clear MEF Component Cache extension.
For me,
I ended the process in Windows Task Manager: VsHub.exe.
Restarted Visual Studio.
After that, everything works like a charm again!
I solved it doing
run devenv /resetuserdata
in this path:
[x64] C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
I assume that in x86 it works in this path:
[x86] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE
It's recommended to try any or all of the following:
Restart Visual Studio
Try Running As Administrator (right-click Visual Studio and choose "Run As Administrator")
Check for any updates for Visual Studio (download and install them if any are available)
Try opening a different solution / project
If problems persist, you might try the following options:
Restart your local machine
Attempt to reset Visual Studio to System Defaults (this can be done from the options within Visual Studio)
Attempt to repair your Visual Studio installation
In the hopes it might narrow things down/help someone, I did an investigatory approach. For me, I initially moved the folder at C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio to My Documents and allowed Visual Studio to re-create it by re-launching it. This removed the errors. So I moved everything back, one-by-one, and restarted Visual Studio each time until I discovered the culprits. These folders were fine to move back in:
1033 (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
Designer (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
Extensions (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
ImageLibrary (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
Notifications (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
STemplate (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
VTC (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS, copied it back in)
These files were fine to move back in/overwrite the auto-generated ones:
ApplicationPrivateSettings (was in my old copy, not initially re-created when I re-launched VS)
ApplicationPrivateSettings.lock (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
vspdmc.lock (overwrote the auto-generated copy with old)
These files were fine to move back in. Each was in my old copy, and not initially re-created when I re-launched VS:
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Framework,Hash=C958D412.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=RecentAssemblies,Hash=0.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Extensions,Hash=75EAE334.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Extensions,Hash=497525A2.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5,Set=Framework,Hash=5AE9A175.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=24CEEB0D.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=72AE305.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Extensions,Hash=ADF899D7.dat
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=Framework,Hash=D8E943A2.dat
These caused problems - delete these files and re-launch VS to allow it to re-create them:
ComponentModelCache - When I overwrote this folder's contents with my old ones (4 files: MS.VS.Default.cache, .catalogs, .err, .external), this gave me all of the errors I had gotten before about not being able to load packages when loading my project, and the "object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when trying to close VS.
devenv.exe.config - same as ComponentModelCache
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Extensions,Hash=6D09DECC.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
.NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Set=Extensions,Hash=9951BC03.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
.NETFramework,Version=v4.5.2,Set=RecentAssemblies,Hash=0.dat - causes error output from the JavaScript Language Service, complaining of missing js files
These are the errors from those last .NETFramework files (which I do not get if I do not add them back in):
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\libhelp.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\sitetypesWeb.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\domWeb.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\underscorefilter.js' not found.
01:10:11.7550: Referenced file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\JavaScript\References\showPlainComments.js' not found.
I might just need to re-install/repair the JavaScript Language Service plug-in, so it might be un-related. But definitely devenv.exe.config and ComponentModelCache need to go to correct the "object reference not set to an instance of an object" error.
For me, ASP.NET 5 is not yet required, I removed update, and then reinstalled ASP.NET 4.5. It's a bit tricky:
Removed from control panel "Microsoft ASP.NET 5 RC1 Update1". After that, you will no longer open ASP.NET MVC projects
Then I changed the installation of "Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2015", clicked "Modify", and selected "Microsoft Web Developer Tools"
No longer follow the notification of update in Visual Studio 2015!!!
After trying the top answer, I found that you must also restart the computer. The error may be part of a git issue as well where restarting your computer will reset.
I was getting an exception every time I tried to create a "new" project.
My solution was:
Go menu Tools → Extensions and Updates
Check the "Updates" link... There was an update to Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools. Install it.
That fixed it for me.
In my case (not necessarily be the solution for you, but it may be helpful for someone), the solution was:
Go menu Tools → Extensions and Updates
Select the Online tab from the right panel
Search for the words web tools, and then select Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools and install it.
In my case, this was missing from my computer because of a lot of repairing operations for Visual Studio.
I was getting similar error in VS2017 while trying to publish my solution to Azure.
This algorithm helped me to resolve it:
Close VS2017
Open C:\Users{your user name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\ folder
Rename 15.0_08edcd83 folder
Start VS
Publish works fine!
Note that this will remove your Visual Studio's recent files / projects from it's history and also linking to MS account.
This method is slightly different from the Top answer. Here you don't have to delete other folders except renaming abovementioned one.
I was getting this exception every time I created a "new" project.
My solution was:
Go menu Tools ? Extensions and Updates
Not check the "Updates" link...search "asp.net". There was an
update to Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools. Get it as
AspNetWebFrameworksTools2015_KB3137909.exe and install it.
That fixed it for me.
Unfortunately, I ran into another exception:
"Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation"
I disabled the FIPS setting Enabled DWORD value to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy]
Enabled=dword:00000000 And All fixed.
Goto windows+R and type %temp% and hit enter. delete the temp folder and files and then try opening the same
I have been fighting with this during the whole weekend. But it's pretty easy to do it. What I did was to click on repair rather than uninstall. After repairing, I clicked on restart directly. After that, everything is working perfectly.
You should try this, may be it can work also for you!!!
Restarting Visual Studio did it for me. On the next run, it displayed a "Scanning new and updated MEF components ..." and then it executed normally.
It seems to be related to Windows update somehow, although I don't have proof.
Delete bin and obj folders in all projects of that solution.
Seems like those folders were having old files generated by some older version of visual studio, which are not compatible with new version of visual studio.
The solution to the issue when i had this earlier today was that there was an additional
set of tags bolted on the end of my Web.config. Once removed the functionality returned.
Problem:
My VS 2015 was throwing up error after I installed SSDT. Whenever I clicked on Tools >> Extensions and Update it was throwing "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error. When I tried to open a solution it threw some provider not set correctly.
Solution:
After many hours of research trying out all the solutions previously mentioned by others didn't solve my problem. Every time the error popup was pointing to check the ActivityLog.xml. But I was ignoring it. After hours of frustration I decided to read the error carefully and looked into ActivitLog.xml and found that it was looking for "Could not load file or assembly 'System.Collections.Immutable, Version=1.1.37.0". So I just started searching for this assembly and stumbled upon this link https://sergeytihon.com/2015/12/01/how-to-restore-viual-studio-2015-after-update-1-dependency-dance/
and followed the steps there, which fixed my issue.
Went into %LOCALAPPDATA%/Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\14.0\devenv.exe.config and searched for "System.Collections.Immutable" and change newVersion from 1.1.36.0 to 1.1.37.0
Final config should look like this
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Collections.Immutable" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral"/>
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.27.0-1.1.65535.65535" newVersion="1.1.37.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
I'm using Visual Studio 2015 Enterprise RTM.
When creating an ASP.net 4.6 web application using the Web Api template, I noticed as soon as I add a TypeScript file, the codelens indicators stop working.
I tested this on a new installation, with no extra extensions installed, as well and tried other asp.net 4.6 templates.
When running in safe mode the problem doesn't occur.
Steps to reproduce:
Set the framework to 4.6
Create a web application by using the web api template.
Change authentication to no authentication
Open the webapiconfig.cs in App_Start
The codelens indicator on the register method should say: 1 reference
Add a typescript file called app.ts (doesn't really matter) in the scripts folder, tit may remain empty
The codelens indicator in the webapiconfig file should still say 1 reference
Close Visual Studio
Reopen Visual Studio and open the solution
Check the webapiconfig file, the codelens doesn't show references anymore or on any other file
Any idea on how to debug codelens or does anyone have this problem as well?
I work for the visual studio team that is responsible for codelens references indicators. I can confirm that this is indeed a bug in VS2015 where codelens references stop working when you add typescript files to your project or typescript projects to your solution :( Unfortunately, we missed this bug for RTM. We're currently actively investigating this bug. At the moment, I am not aware of any workarounds for this problem. I can post an update when we have more information to share on this bug.
I may have found a workaround that seems to do the trick for me:
So, I have a solution with multiple projects, only one of which has TypeScript files.
I just unloaded the project, cleaned + rebuilt (some restart to Visual Studio at this point may help + close all opened files), then loaded again, cleaned and rebuilt and now CodeLens shows my references (again, close all open files).
Note that until this bug is fixed, you may have to do this each time you open VS.
Hope this helps!
EDIT: If you only have a single project, then exclude the Scripts folder from the solution, clean, rebuilt, close Visual Studio then open it again. Now you should have the references back. Simply include the folder again.
Best of luck!
in my case references start working after uninstalling vssonar extension, vs2015ent
I'm using Visual Studio Ultimate 2015 CTP (Version 14.0.22512.0 DP), and create two asp.net 5 vnext web applications.
When one is running, and I'm starting the second one with the context menu "Debug->Start new instance" option, the IIS Express crashes instantly (Internet Explorer opens firstly the second project, and then instantly closes both, Chrome simply display only that the page doesn't exist).
The only trace that I found is in the Event Viewer, a Warning from IIS Express:
The directory specified for caching compressed content C:\Users\Alek\AppData\Local\Temp\iisexpress\IIS Temporary Compressed Files\Clr4IntegratedAppPool is invalid. Static compression is being disabled.
Any suggestions how to fix this? It's hard to work on a multi-tier project when only one project can be run at a time.
When I created manually above folder, nothing is logged to the event viewer, but the IIS Express still crashes. On Visual Studio 2013 I can run two instances of two Web Applications withtout any problems
It should work if you set your solution to use multiple startup projects and add all the projects you need to debug
Really easy steps to follow here:
http://www.magnetismsolutions.com/blog/paulnieuwelaar/2015/04/07/debug-multiple-projects-at-the-same-time-in-visual-studio
Still not as easy as previous versions of visual studio
Maybe not a solution, but a workaround which I found - running two instances of Visual Studio 2015 allow to run two projects.
I'm getting a curious error when attempting to generate a view via the 'Add View' dialog. Simply leaving the dialog as is (ie creating view 'View') and hitting 'Add' yields the following error dialog:
Error: There was an error running the selected code generator: 'The Templates/PackageVersions5.0.1xml file is missing from the installed template folder.'
Which I'm afraid means little to me. I've googled the xml file to no avail.
Not really sure where to go now - I'm unable to add views to my project via scaffolding (though I can of course just by 'adding a new item' and building it myself).
How can I track down the source of this error?
Posting here because I ran into the same "file is missing" issue with Visual Studio 2019 and PackageVersions5.2.6.xml. This was one of the only pages I could find related to this scaffolding issue so I suspect others will find their way here too.
I found that upgrading the "Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc" package via NuGet to 5.2.7 was not sufficient to fix the problem. I also had to upgrade "Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi" and its related packages to 5.2.7. The Add View option started working again afterward.
Just make sure you have same version of MVC nugget in all projects, if you only have one project then upgrade/downgrade MVC to different version then revert back to the version you require and issue will get fixed.
I just changed version from 5.2.3 back to 5.2.2 and then reverted back to 5.2.3 and all worked. It appears some file got messed up or and then was restored by this.
I got same issue while using visual studio 2019 community edition, where I am able to create view using visual studio 2017.
After reading answers here, I tried upgrading Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc package, and it works for me.
I'm afraid the rather unsatisfactory solution I arrived at was to create a clean project and import the project elements in, recreating the project from scratch.
I assume that some deep-configuration had become corrupted and I was unable to work out how to fix it.
I ran into the same problem when using a project from VS2013 in VS2015. In my case it was PackageVersions5.1.3.xml that was missing. 5.1.3 seems to be the version of MVC this project was using. I updated MVC to the latest (currently 5.2.3) and this solved the issue.
The XML file should exist in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\Web\Mvc\Scaffolding\Templates\
I had the same issue. The problem started after installing DevExpress to project. I found that DevExpress installation creates some DevExpress folders in D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\Extensions but all necessary files for scaffolding lived in D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\Extensions. I copied the content of extension folder from vs professional to enterprise restart Visual Studio and Scaffolding works again.
Situation:
I installed Visual Studio 2012 on top of my previous Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. I uninstalled VS2012 shortly thereafter along with all SQL 2012 database junk and yadda yadda. Everything in VS 2010 seems to be good, but when I try to open my web.config file VS hangs indefinitely.
Tried:
(1) Downloading and replacing the dsref80.dll that gets overridden by VS2012
(2) Uninstalled all VS extensions, including NuGet
(3) Created new website and web.config file. Problem persists
Question: Does anyone have any other ideas about what could cause the web.config file to cause VS2010 to hang and crash after clicking on it?
I figured it out. For some reason the web.config file was set to open with source code editor by default and not the HTML editor.
For anyone else who runs into this issue, the answer is simple.
Right-click the web.config file ---> Open with ----> Highlight HTML Editor ---> Set as Default.
Update (Dec, 2013): Although I was able to access the web.config file using the method mentioned above, I later realized that it was more of a Band-Aid than a solution. Using the html editor causes a lot of validation warnings and renders intelliSense useless. The correct solution is to run the repair option from the Visual Studio 2010 install DVD, that fixes everything.